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Wayfarer's Collective
A group formed by the Terrans after learning of the impending destruction of their home planet of Terra by Planet Killer-class asteroids. This group comprised of forward thinking members from the science, computer, business and political communities of the many nations of Terra. This group immediately took the fate of the planet into its hands in a peaceful yet resolute fashion. History Initial plan Over a period of sixty years, the people of the planet Terra devised an escape plan for their civilization. That plan hinged on focusing the greatest scientific minds of the planet on the research and application of quantum mechanics. The research bore fruit and the first faster-than-light (FTL) drone, The Ambassador, was successfully launched. Over the course of the next ten years more drones were launched and a plan was established for the evacuation of the planet Terra. This plan entailed the production of sixty thousand ships with rudimentary FTL hyper-drive capabilities. Each ship would belong to one of twelve fleets and carry eight thousand Terrans to redemption. This would account for 500 million of the one billion people on the planet. The Terran people unified these efforts despite the knowledge that only half of their population could be saved. When the time came, volunteers from every walk of life agreed to stay planet-side and help facilitate the successful launch and navigation of the escape ships. These Volunteers are honored every cycle on Volunteers' Day, for without their sacrifice none of us would be here today. The search for a home Each of the twelve fleets was set on a course with the highest likelihood of finding an inhabitable planet. Each was named after one of the constellations of stars in the vicinity of its path. Approximately a year before annihilation struck, The Wayfarer’s left planet Terra with the intent of proliferating their civilization. Their only goal was to find an uninhabited world capable of sustaining the Terran race. Of the twelve Wayfarer fleets, only two were known for certain to have survived the initial jump to warp speed. These two ships ran on parallel courses towards the Cosi system. Both ships managed to maintain intermittent communications throughout the years of space travel. The Aquarius, commanded by Admiral Jacob Hull, and The Cetus, led by Hull’s former second in command Captain Kojiro Vance, traveled valiantly where no other Terran had gone before. The Great Divide After ten years of faster than light travel through incredibly difficult conditions, The Aquarius and The Cetus continued to blindly travel to their destination, not knowing what to expect when they arrived. The Cetus and The Aquarius were entering the final legs of their journey, both dangerously low on supplies. Strict rationing and reassessment was necessary to ensure the survival of the crews. Optimism was short at hand along the way and it was up to both Admiral Hull and Captain Vance to motivate and console their crews, keeping them assured that a new home awaited them at the end of their journey. It was at this time that the two ships encountered a strange deep space anomaly. The anomaly was approximately a week from their current location and both ships would pass within sub-light distances of it. Captain Vance’s initial readings gave indication that the anomaly possessed the physical traits of some sort of super wormhole. As the two ships grew closer, further readings detected some kind of faint subspace communication being emitted from the anomaly. The communications were in no discernible language but showed high indication signs that it could have been sent by intelligent life. The tonality of the “language” had a fluidity and timbre that could be almost considered pleasing. The “Great Divide”, a term the two commanders used to reference the anomaly, became the topic of a bitter debate between Hull and Vance. Over the next seven days research was conducted and the communications between the two fleets were documented for scientific review by future generations. Discussions remained civil if not unified, and after lengthy debate, The Cetus plowed forth into the anomaly, disappearing forever. The last broadcast from Kojiro Vance was cryptic to say the least: "Jacob, it grieves me to have to disregard you last order to me. We have never seen eye to eye on many things other than our love for life and of this great universe. While I doubt you a coward, you lack vision and depth to your conviction. With only moments left before The Cetus enters the ‘Great Divide’ I leave you with this quote in hopes that you will understand: ‘Men of broader intellect know that there is no sharp distinction betwixt the real and the unreal; that all things appear as they do only by virtue of the delicate individual physical and mental media through which we are made conscious of them; but the prosaic materialism of the majority condemns as madness the flashes of super-sight which penetrate the common veil of obvious empiricism.’ Don’t fear for us, Jacob, our course is true. By the maker! If you could only see what I am seeing right now…" Aftermath Time to mourn for the loss of the Cetus fleet was short. In the month that followed the Great Divide, The Aquarius arrived at its destination. The planet it discovered is now known as Aquarius Eleven in memory of the lost fleets of Terra. The closest moon of Aquarius Eleven is called Ceti Alpha Five in memory of The Cetus Fleet. Admiral Jacob Hull, besides leading his people to a new home world, went on to become an intergalactic ambassador, war hero and an outspoken leader of the Alliance fleets.